Brazil's Tanure in talks with Fosun for joint bid for Club Med- FT

Redacción de Reuters

2 MIN. DE LECTURA

PARIS, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Brazilian investor Nelson Tanure is in talks with Chinese conglomerate Fosun International over a possible joint bid for holiday resort company Club Mediterraneo , the Financial Times reported on Friday.

“We are in discussions,” Tanure told the newspaper, saying he was prepared to invest about $90 million through his Costa do Pero real estate investment company.

Fosun owner Guo Guangchang, China’s richest man, has been given until Dec. 1 to sweeten his bid for Club Med in the long-running battle for the company after Italian tycoon Andrea Bonomi offered 23 euros per share on Nov. 11.

That offer, which valued the company at 874 million euros($1.09 billion), was one euro higher than Fosun’s previous counter-offer.

Tanure, who operates in real estate, telecoms and oil and gas in Brazil, could not be immediately reached, and Fosun had no immediate comment.

Were Tanure to join with Fosun, he would become a minority partner in Fosun’s Gaillon Invest II investment vehicle.

Tanure criticised Bonomi’s takeover plan that includes U.S. private equity fund KKR & Co, saying their interests were short term.

“I am afraid that the fantastic Club Med brand will not be in the right hands,” he told the FT. He criticised Bonomi’s plans to lower Club Med’s prices instead of making resorts more upmarket, which Fosun wants to do.

The takeover battle for Club Med -- which has been hit by the weak economy in its core market of Europe and a stalled attempt to move upmarket -- dates back to May 2013.

Club Med shares traded at 23.85, up 1.2 percent, on Friday at mid-afternoon. The stock has gained 35 percent since the start of the year. ($1 = 0.8047 euro) (Reporting By Alexandria Sage, editing by David Evans)